Chili
I haven’t cooked anything in a while. It seems like years, but it’s getting to be colder again and that makes me want to have something good. Soup? No this time chili!
My mom lent me her slow cooker so it will be my first time using it and my first time making chili.
But how hard can chili be? You need some meat, tomato sauce, chili spices, and some chilis. Throw it all in the slow cooker and wait for it to all come together tomorrow morning. I just did that so I’m writing this blog post to remind me how I did it, because when tastes terrible tomorrow, I’ll know what I did wrong.
Let’s start with the ingredients.
First comes ground beef. I chose the 80% lean so that the fat will give it some flavor. Brown the ground beef in a tablespoon of oil with 2 pinches of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
Next (actually before browning the meat), I roast a jalapeño pepper on my stove top. I used my vegetable steamer over the bare flame as the roaster. I rub the pepper in some olive oil and blacken it all around. Place it in a container to steam so that the skin is easy to peel. It took about 5 minutes for it to steam. Let it take longer and the burnt skin should come off easy. Remove the seeds and chop it. Throw it into the browning beef.
One diced yellow onion and a handful of minced garlic cloves go in as well. Let that all cook together for a few minutes. I didn’t look at the time I just threw it all in the pan and watched the meat brown.
Then I added the spices. I have no idea how much to add so I measure out about a tablespoon each of ground cumin, paprika, and chili spices followed by half a tablespoon of ground black pepper. Throw it all into the pan and stir it good.
At this point, I plug in the slow cooker and start her up at high. For the liquid base, I throw in a can of beer. Yes beer because this Deadspin article says so. I’m apprehensive, but hope that it turns out well. Maybe using Sam Adams summer ale may not be the same as Corona.
I scrape the meat and vegetables into the slow cooker. Maybe I should’ve waited longer so that the spices mix up well. In also goes a small can of green chili and then comes the tomato paste. I also have some diced tomatoes but everything in the pot already looks good. I hold off on the diced potatoes. This could be my undoing.
I’m going to let it simmer on high for a couple hours then turn it down to low to cook overnight with fingers crossed.
